On 2006-02-20, Josh the Geek <joshthegeek@gmail.com> wrote:
> When I attempt to install an rpm on my SuSE 8.1 server, I receive a
> segmentation fault. I have tried approx. seven different rpm's all
> with the same result (example output below). The problem always occurs
> after:
>
> D: package: <packagename> files test = 0.
>
> I have rebuilt the database using:
>
> rpm --rebuilddb
>
> but it did not resolve the problem.
>
> I can query existing package installs without error (e.g. rpm -q
> glibc).
>
> This is a production e-mail server, so reloading/downtime is not an
> option.
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> Example output:
>
> # rpm -v -v rpm-4.1.1-177.i586.rpm
> D: counting packages to install
> ...
> D: package: rpm-4.1.1-177 files test = 0
> Segmentation fault

Did you check the signatures on that .rpm file first? Might
the file be corrupted?

Back when I was using HatRed (8.0 and) 9, I got a lot of
segmentation faults from 'rpm -V' (verify) on installed
packages. I found sometimes I had to rebuild the DB several
times in a row to _really_ get it clean.

<grumble-mode>
I reported it as a bug in HatRed's bugzilla, and the droids
there replied that it must be a hardware problem. Those
same three machines that all had the segmentation faults
with HatRed have now run two (going on three) releases of
MandrX (Mandrake, Mandriva, ...) without a single
segmentation fault from the rpm command.
</grumble-mode>

--
Robert Riches
spamtrap42@verizon.net
(Yes, that is one of my email addresses.)

On 2006-02-21, Josh the Geek <joshthegeek@gmail.com> wrote:
> Robert M. Riches Jr. wrote:
>
>> Did you check the signatures on that .rpm file first? Might
>> the file be corrupted?
>
> Yes, and everything checks out.
>
>> Back when I was using HatRed (8.0 and) 9, I got a lot of
>> segmentation faults from 'rpm -V' (verify) on installed
>> packages. I found sometimes I had to rebuild the DB several
>> times in a row to _really_ get it clean.
>
> I've rebuilt the database about 20 times and it hasn't resolved the
> problem.

Sorry to hear that. At this point, the only things I could
suggest would be to file a bug report with your
distribution's vendor, and maybe see whether they have a
fixed version of rpm. As I mentioned earlier, my 'rpm -V'
segmentation faults went away when I switched from HatRed to
MandrX (Mandrake, Mandriva, ...). If you find such a switch
both possible and necessary, I hope all goes well. The two
MandrX newsgroups are pretty good for getting help.

--
Robert Riches
spamtrap42@verizon.net
(Yes, that is one of my email addresses.)